report by linda grant, novelist
photography by catwalking.com
Fashion’s fearlessness has passed across every known frontier. Is there anything it won’t appropriate from the street? We are long used to bondage and fetish, and now… the puffa jacket, that garment beloved by people who say they never pay any attention to fashion. Marios Schwab had elements of all of them. His high-necked, long-sleeved austere wool dresses, banded or sleeved in leather, discreet studs and outsize pearls, were the epitome of pared-down elegance, worn with wrist-length gloves. There is a mood in fashion at the moment that suits our times of economic uncertainty. It’s the exact opposite of vulnerability and fragility; it’s toughness and strength. Schwab’s colours were strong (mulberry, acid green) and his puffa jackets – also seen in New York last week and at Aquascutum later in the day – may be a response to two very cold winters, or a need for protection. The utilitarian nature of the puffa was offset with chiffon scarves, belts and even a belted puffa coat with a skater skirt. Next, the fashion slanket.
